Meteor event could mean big payout

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Wednesday, a NASA search team headed out to an area northwest of Cullman to see if they could find pieces of the meteor many saw streak across the Alabama sky Tuesday. Marshall Space and Flight Center meteor expert Dr. Bill Cooke says there was no smoking gun out in the area northwest of Cullman, meaning the team didn't find any obvious meteorites. Still, Cooke says the team returned with some unusual samples. And Cooke says if someone does find a meteorite it could pay big.

"Meteorites can be worth a lot of money to collectors. They can go for thousands of dollars an ounce," Cooke said.

That's why NASA is working to alert property owners of what may be on their land before releasing a more specific location of where the meteorites may be. "We're kind of keeping things somewhere northwest of Cullman for a little while," Cooke said. "When a meteorite fall is announced, often times there's a gold rush as people stampede into the area to hunt them. According to law, if a meteorite falls on property it belongs to the property owner. Before we let out the location we try to scope out the area and let people in the area know there's a chance meteorites may have fallen on their property." Despite their efforts to keep hunters at bay, Cooke says some may already be in the area.

"Meteorite hunters are very smart. They know more than I do about how to find them," Cooke said.